“He drove and he found people. He scored and he hit jumpers. He just kept coming.”

Iowa appeared on the verge of turning the game into a route after bolting to a 24-5 lead on a 3-point basket by White with 12 minutes, 14 seconds left before halftime.

But the Bears stormed back behind the 3-point shooting of reserve senior guard Dewan Clayborn.

He made all five of his 3-point shots in the first half, which is one more 3-pointer than he had made on the season. Clayborn entered the game having made just 4-of-20 3-pointers on the season.

His fourth 3-pointer cut the lead to 31-23 with 7:18 left before halftime and his fifth trey cut it to 44-33 with 3:14 left in the first half.

Central Arkansas also trimmed a 13-point deficit to eight points (50-42) late in the first half. But junior forward Eric May scored five points in the final 16 seconds of the first half to push Iowa’s lead back to 13 points (55-42) at halftime.

Iowa’s point total in the first half equaled what it scored during a 71-55 loss to Clemson on Nov. 29 at home.

The Hawkeyes started the second half much like they did the first half, only this time they kept adding to the lead.

A basket by freshman guard Josh Oglesby expanded Iowa’s lead to 85-49 with 8:09 left to play. The Hawkeyes had outscored Central Arkansas 30-7 at this stage in the second half.

McCaffery had all five of his starters out of the game with 8:08 left to play.

It didn’t matter, though, because the reserves kept pouring it on down the stretch. Freshman center Gabe Olaseni finished with eight points and three blocks in just nine minutes.

He also had one of Iowa’s nine dunks.

“You don’t want to show anybody up,” McCaffery said. “But when they’re pressing up like that, you’ve got to go score it and you’ve got to go score it with a dunk.”

About Pat Harty: Columnist Pat Harty has been covering the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Press-Citizen since 1991. Originally from Des Moines, he currently writes columns and covers Hawkeye men's basketball for Hawk Central. View author profile.